Featured in EPN
Recent highlights from EPN:
Optically pumped alkali magnetometers for biomedical applications1
by A. Weis
“Atomic magnetometers are novel sensitive devices for medical diagnosis. They use laser radiation to prepare spin-coherent atomic samples and to monitor their perturbation by the magnetic field of interest. In recent years, they have reached sensitivities comparable to, or better than SQUID magnetometers. We discuss the principles of atomic magnetometers based on optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) and review their biomedical applications…”
Pionic Deuterium2
by D. Gotta
“Atoms formed after Coulomb capture of negatively charged pions rapidly develop to nuclear dimensions and eventually decay by strong interaction. The strong force affects energy and line width of X-rays emitted during a de-excitation cascade which allows precise measurements of hadronic quantities by means of crystal spectrometers. Pionic deuterium – involving the lightest composite nucleus – constitutes a bridge between particle and nuclear physics…”
The nature and origin of ultra high-energy cosmic rays3
by J.R. Hörandel et al.
“The Earth is exposed to a permanent rain of cosmic particles from outer space. Most of the particles are fully ionised atomic nuclei, moving with relativistic energies. The bulk of them with energies up to 1017 eV originate within our Milky Way. They are most likely accelerated in supernova remnants. Some particles have a thousand times higher energies, i.e., around 1020 eV. This corresponds to the kinetic energy of a tennis ball with a mass of 50 g and a velocity of 90 km/h…”
- Weis, Antoine. (2012-05-11) Optically pumped alkali magnetometers for biomedical applications. Europhysics News, 43(3), 20-23. DOI: 10.1051/epn/2012301 [↩]
- Gotta, Detlev. (2012-05-11) Pionic Deuterium. Europhysics News, 43(3), 28-31. DOI: 10.1051/epn/2012303
[↩] - H, J.R. (2012-05-11) The nature and origin of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. Europhysics News, 43(3), 24-27. DOI: 10.1051/epn/2012302 [↩]
